THREE FINALISTS FOR BMF SYDNEY IN DIRECT LIONS

With the release of the Direct Lions shortlist the biggest question for the Aussie contingent at Cannes was “who the hell is Hoopernagel?”. The unknown Sydney 'agency' is actually a young freelance creative team, who picked up two shortlists for Olympus’ ‘World’s Smallest Ad’.
Overall, Australia put in a strong performance in Direct, with 16 on the shortlist. BMF led the pack with three shortlists for Tooheys Extra Dry Platinum Human Testing Program, followed by M&C Saatchi and Hoopernagel with two each. M&C Saatchi’s shortlisted work was for British Council of Australia’s ‘Poms will Whinge’ and Optus ‘Contacts’.
The other shortlisted Australian agencies were DDB Sydney (VW Gold R32 ‘Short Car Songs’), Host/The Glue Society (Virgin Mobile’s ‘Exciting offers need exciting ads’), GPY&R Sydney (Telstra ‘Street Idol’), Smart Sydney (Smart’s ‘Great Offices of the World’), Leo Burnett Sydney (Optus ‘Safari’), JWT Sydney (Food Donation Apeal’s ‘Setbacks’), BWM (World Movie Channel’s ‘Deep Throat’) CHE Melbourne (Mazda ‘Deepthroat’) and Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney (Olympus ‘Here’s Proof’).
New Zealand had seven shortlists in Direct, dominated by AIM Proximity with three shortlists across its Auckland and Wellington offices. The Auckland office was shortlisted for Westpac ‘Westie Pac’ and Haunui Stud ‘Spem’ while the Wellington office was recognised for New Zealand Post’s ‘Mailed Anything Sexy Lately?’. This was followed by TBWA\Whybin + Tequila with two shortlists for the agency’s promotional campaign ‘Apology’ and Pago for ASB Bank’s ‘Pago Money Sticker’.
Other shortlisted New Zealand agencies were Clemenger BBDO Wellington for Land Transport NZ’s ‘Phone Legends’ and Ogilvy One Auckland Soul Bar ‘The Bet’.